An Arranged Love Affair
by vedette26
Summary: In strenghtening the diplomatic ties between two hidden villages, sacrifices must be made. Guess who ends up in the middle of it all.


-v26-: Whoo…first fic of the year…this is one of my old fics…that I haven't finished yet. I hope that you'll enjoy reading!

Naruto: Eh? Why didn't you make a fic 'bout me vedette-san?

-v26-: Next time Naruto, next time…

Naruto: Promise?

-v26-: Hai, hai…now will you please just give the disclaimer…?

Naruto: Vedette-san does not own me or the other unimportant characters in MY show…Tsunade-baachan is the one who owns us, and she is a cheapskate who won't even treat me to eat ramen 'ttebayo!

-v26-: …umm…yeah…right…he meant Kishimoto-sama…read and review!

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An Arranged Love Affair

Chapter 1: Breaking the Ice

"What?!"

'That went well' the blonde-haired Hokage thought wryly as a certain dark haired Jonin stared at her with widened eyes.

"You heard me correctly Nara, as I am very sure that you have not suddenly gone deaf" Tsunade said stoically. "You will be set up on an arranged marriage with a representative from Suna, picked by the Kazekage himself"

"B-but why me?" Nara Shikamaru asked, slumping into the chair he was seated at. "What about Naruto, Sasuke, Neji, Chouji, Kiba, Lee, Shino…?" He asked, ticking off every male shinobi in the village.

The Godaime sighed deeply. "Because, apparently you are the only eligible bachelor in Konoha" (N/A: eligible bachelor? Yeah right…) Tsunade said. "Naruto already swore on oath to the Hyuuga clan, Sasuke is already living with Sakura, Neji already has a fiancée, Chouji was disregarded by the Kazekage; don't ask me why, Lee wasn't allowed by Gai; something about youthfulness or something like that, and Shino is already betrothed to someone else" The honey-eyed woman finished.

The seventeen-year old Jonin looked at the Fifth with a baffled look in his face. His IQ of 200 was having a hard time to comprehend what he had just heard.

'_For the love of Kami why is it always me? How troublesome…_' He thought glumly.

"What about…my…parents?" He asked, he had to get away from this mission, even if he had to beg his mother… or maybe not…

"Hm? Your parents? Tsunade contemplated for a moment. "They're perfectly aware of it, as a matter of fact your father was the one who recommended you for this mission, and your mother was more than happy to get rid of you"

"Troublesome…" He groaned inwardly, silently cursing his parents, there was no freaking way that he was going to get married to some chick from Suna. '_Tch, they're probably as scary as her anyway…' _

Tsunade watched amusedly as Shikamaru; lost in his thoughts, fidgeted in his seat.

"And as far as I know, Nara, the Kazekage, his siblings, and of course the representative will be arriving this afternoon, and I will need your presence here"

Troublesome…

"And don't be late" The Godaime finished as Shikamaru closed the door to her office.

* * *

"What did you say?!"

Kankurou slowly backed away from his enraged older sister, cowering behind his seat. The costumers of the tea shop they were eating at watched amusedly as his sister practically seethed with anger. He knew that this was not a good idea; he had already foreseen this happening once they had told Temari about the mission. But, of course, Gaara persisted; pressing that Temari will be more pissed off if she finds out that they haven't found anyone for the diplomatic affair at Konoha.

"You've got to be kidding me" Temari bellowed, sending a few onlookers to back off.

"No sister, what you heard was true" Gaara said impassively sipping on his tea. Maybe his brother was right, maybe they shouldn't have picked his sister…But it was on very short notice, there wasn't any female in Suna that will act as a representative. Of course they had been meaning to tell Temari about this whole ordeal, but she was already busy with the workload that the elders had dumped on her.

"But why didn't you tell me that you couldn't find anyone? Couldn't you just pick some random kunoichi from back home?" She said.

A deafening silence erupted with Gaara and Kankurou sending furtive glances with each other, Kankurou sighed in defeat and turned to face his sister.

"Because, you were busy at that time" Kankurou replied, "Geez, why are you acting like this anyway? The marriage will only last for a month and—" The puppet-master said but soon regretted it.

"Why don't you go to Konoha yourself and get married with some snot-faced shinobi?!" She yelled. (A/N: Bad Temari, talking about leaf nins like that…bad, bad, Temari)

"Why did you two settle for me anyway? There is a big chance that I'm older than the shinobi they will be picking" She asked, gathering herself.

The Kazekage looked at his sister and sighed, putting down his glass on the table.

"Because, you are my sister, you are a Jonin from our village and you are the ambassador of Suna, it is only right to send someone important for this mission and you are already acquainted with some of the people there" Gaara finished. "This will be done to strengthen our diplomatic ties with the leaf and nothing more. I assure you that, sister"

Temari looked away and finally sighed in defeat; she stood up and secured her fan on her back.

"Come on then, we still have a lot of ground to cover if we want to arrive there by afternoon"

Kankurou sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Come on Gaara, we better get going, she's in one of those _moods_ again"

Gaara nodded, paying for what they've eaten and what his sister have accidentally destroyed.

As soon as they went out of the shop, they quickly continued on their way to the village of Konoha, ready to seal an engagement.

* * *

The clouds continuously went by, softly being blown by the wind. A certain lazy ninja laid on the cool green blades of grass, eyes trained on the vast expanse of the sky littered by fluffy white clouds.

Shikamaru sighed deeply, racking his brains for any solution to get out of this mess, but unfortunately, his brain decided to shut off. _'Damn you dad'_ He mentally cursed his father what appeared as the umpteenth time that day. If it wasn't for his troublesome father he wouldn't be caught up in this mess anyway. It was nearly afternoon and the Godaime Hokage will soon be requesting his presence in her office.

"Oi Shikamaru!" A familiar voice called.

He lazily stood up and cast a bored look over at the pink-haired kunoichi standing at the base of the hill he had taken refuge in.

"What do you want?"

Sakura scrunched up her nose in annoyance. "Tsunade-shishou wanted to see you in her office right now, it seems like the Kazekage and his siblings have arrived"

"How troublesome" He muttered, strolling over towards the medic-nin.

"Hurry up, you lazy-ass!"

"Hai, hai…"

They made their way towards the Hokage tower with the green-eyed girl constantly bugging him as to why _her _master would want to assign someone as lazy as him to a very important mission and as to why Tsunade couldn't have picked Sasuke or Naruto for the mission.

If she only knew…

He merely shrugged at her ramblings, silently wondering on how the Uchicha can put up with her. He refrained from talking while he was around Sakura; he did not want any news of his 'marriage' to get out.

Sakura knocked on the door leading to the Hokage's office.

"Come in" Came the muffled reply.

"Ah Shikamaru" Tsunade greeted "Sakura, you may go now"

"Hai, Tsunade-sama" The pink-haired medic-nin turned to leave "Ah nice to see you again, Gaara-sama, Kankurou-san, Temari-chan" She greeted the three sand siblings on her way out, gently closing the door behind her.

"Take a seat Nara" The blonde-haired woman said, motioning a hand towards a chair on her left.

The dark-haired boy looked around the room, searching for any sign of 'his bride-to-be'. The only people inside was the Hokage, the Kazekage, his siblings and of course him.

His gaze fell on the oldest san siblings whose mouth had suddenly started twitching when he entered the room. The idea dawned on him…there was no freaking way….

"As I'm sure, all of you have been informed that this marriage will only last for a month, and will only be done for diplomatic reasons concerning the alliance between Konoha and Suna" Tsunade said.

"Though this so-called marriage is strictly for diplomatic reasons only, I would like to set some rules for you Nara" Gaara stated coldly.

_Damn…NO WAY AM I GETTING MARRIED TO THAT WOMAN!!!_

"You are in no condition to –"Gaara was cut off by his sister who was having a coughing fit.

The Godaime chuckled inwardly and tried to conceal a grin that was surely present on her face right now.

"Well, Shikamaru, due to some reasons. Sabaku no Temari will be the representative of Suna in this marriage"

Temari glared at nobody in particular when Tsunade said this, as the corners of her mouth twitched.

"And seeing as we've already sent out the invitation scrolls…" Tsunade stated, a smirk gracing her features. "That are going to open…right about now…so you two can't back out from this mission"

"Do remember that you cannot tell anyone about this mission or it will be rendered useless, you two are both skilled shinobi of your respective villages and I'm sure that you know how to act flawlessly"

The two finally nodded but it looked like it took them every ounce of self-restraint to do so and not throw a tantrum there and then.

"Good," Tsunade said, she then turned to Shikamaru and Temari. "I will be asking you two, to be here by tomorrow morning for the wedding preparations."

Temari nodded and said something about waiting for her brothers at the hotel they were staying at. As Shikamaru started to leave, Gaara and Kankurou suddenly held him back.

"What?!"

"Even though that this will only be a pretend marriage, I won't hesitate to use the sand-coffin on you when the need arises, Nara" Gaara threatened.

"And by the way, I also need to test my new puppet on you as well, I need to know how well Kuragi can crush you"

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A/N: Hehe…so what do you think? It's a bit crappy I guess…. Well, I hope you liked the first chapter of this fic…I'll be updating sooner or later…It's crap, I know…flame if you want…you can even Rasengan or Chidori it or something…but I don't think that'll fit…so just throw a kunai or shuriken at me so you don't have to read crappy fics any more…

Please review with…Naruto on top…XD


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